Book III, Elegy 19

Oft thou reproachest me with the lust that rules us men. Believe me, 'tis rather of your womankind that lust is lord. Ye, when ye have burst the reins of despised modesty, ne'er set a limit to the frenzy of your heart. Sooner shall the flame be quenched amid the burning corn, and streams return to the fountain whence they sprang, sooner shall the Syrtes yield a calm haven and wild Malea give the mariner kindly welcome on its shores, than any man shall have power to check you in your course or break the goads of your headlong wantonness.

Witness be she that suffered the scorn of the Cretan bull, and put on the false horns of the fir-wood cow. Witness Salmoneus' daughter that burned with passion for Thessalian Enipeus, and was ready to yield all her body to the watery god. Myrrha too is a reproach to your sex, that, fired with love for her aged sire, was transformed and hidden in the leaves of a strange tree. For why should I tell of Medea, when the mother, dearly though she loved her children, appeased her anger by their slaughter? Or why should I tell of Clytemestra, that in Mycenae brought shame on all the house of Pelops by her adultery?

And thou, Scylla, that didst sell thyself for the beauty of Minos, thou didst shear away thy father's realm when thou shorest his purple lock. Such was the dower that the maiden pledged to the foe! Nisus, 'twas love that opened thy gates by guile. But may ye, unwedded maids, burn your marriage torches with happier omen: for, see, she hangs to the Cretan bark and is dragged through the sea. Yet Minos deserves place as the judge of Hell: though victor he showed justice to his conquered foe.